U.S., Israel Discuss Greek Patriarch

WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department is talking to Israel about its refusal to recognize the Greek Orthodox Church’s patriarch for the Holy Land, Eireneos I.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department is talking to Israel about its refusal to recognize the Greek Orthodox Church’s patriarch for the Holy Land, Eireneos I.

The department’s amassador for religious freedom, John V. Hanford III, said Monday “this is something we are well aware of.”

He made the remark in response to a Greek reporter’s question at a news conference on the department’s annual report on international religious freedom.

Eireneos was elected a year ago.

Under centuries-old Holy Land tradition, a new patriarch has to be approved by the rulers of the areas where his parishoners live __ in Eireneos’ case Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Without the recognition, the patriarch cannot represent the church in dealings with the host country.

Jordan and the Palestinian Authority recognized Eireneos shortly after his election.

Israeli police in August detained a senior official of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem on suspicion he illegally visited Syria and Lebanon, where Israel said he expressed support for terrorist organizations fighting the Jewish state.

Atallah Hanna, spokesman for the church, was taken from his home in Jerusalem’s Old City to the Jerusalem district police headquarters and questioned for six hours before being released.

Hanna, an Israeli Arab born near Nazareth, said the arrest was unjustified as he had only expressed opposition to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and spoken in defense of Palestinian rights.

Christian and Muslim leaders said Hanna’s detention was a violation of rights to religious freedom and free speech.